Hey BeYouties! Are you tired? Do you feel overwhelmed? Do you wonder how in the world will you get ‘all the things’ done? How about that family member or co-worker that is really trying your patience? Or the diagnosis you never thought would come your way. In the midst of all the negative things we could focus on, let's choose to marvel at what God is doing in our lives. Let’s be grateful!
Every day there is evidence of God at work in our lives—just waiting to be recognized. Things like waking up in the morning and having the strength to get out of bed. The kids may be calling our names before our feet hit the floor. It may feel like we can never get a quiet moment to ourselves. But instead of taking a sigh of frustration, take a breath and thank God for the gift of motherhood. We have an opportunity to disciple a child, to shape them into what God created them to be. Think about the way they can put a smile on your face, even when life wants you to be stressed. If our children are grown and they aren’t quite living the way we expected or may even like, instead of complaining, let’s thank God they made it to adulthood and have another opportunity to get back on track.
There are millions of incredible things and ‘small stuff’ that happen around us every day. All of them should be reminders of God’s presence and move us to say, “Lord, Thank You”. God’s marvels are so common that it’s easy to lose our sense of thankfulness and be distracted by all the stuff that’s flooding our airwaves and social media feeds. Being quickly consumed with work, the laundry, balancing finances, house chores, cooking, and family to-dos, we can unintentionally overlook God’s presence. We can miss out on the privilege to express our gratitude to Him and to others.
Psalm 100:4 says, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name.” Having a grateful heart and expressing it to God opens the door to His presence. Isn’t that exactly what we need when things seem to be going in the wrong direction? Verse 5 goes on to say, “For the LORD is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.” When we thank and praise God, our focus changes from meditating on the problem to being reminded that God is good and His love will never give up on us. He is faithful to us and will continue to be through all generations.
Even during tough times or family hardships, we are commanded to not give in to anxiety, but to go to God. He wants us to give Him our requests, to cast our cares on Him. However, that must be coupled with thanksgiving. God is so good that He promised to then give us peace, a peace that doesn’t make sense, in the midst of all the chaos. Our God is so wonderful!
Being thankful is an attitude we should express every day and requires an act of our will. Psalm 86:12 says, “I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever.” God has promised us peace, protection and provision regardless of what is going on around us. So, while we may think we have reasons to grumble & complain, choose to say, “Lord, Thank You” and mean it, instead. Now that’s BeYoutiful!
- Minister Kila Turner
Don't forget to join us online Saturday, December 3rd at noon for our last Book Club discussion on Healing the Soul of a Woman by Joyce Meyer!
Go to godsbeyouties.com to tune in!